Currently, a dealer sells a component, such as an engine to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The OEM incorporates the engine into a machine, which is manufactured by the OEM. The OEM may add additional components in manufacturing the machine. For example, a stump grinder manufacturer may purchase a radiator from another supplier and incorporate the radiator, engine and grinder into the final machine. In this example, the radiator may only cool the engine on days less than 30 degrees Celsius. The stump grinder manufacturer sells the stump grinder to a customer. The customer uses the stump grinder on a hot day, the engine overheats, and the stump grinder stops working due to engine failure. The customer calls the stump grinder manufacturer, who calls the engine manufacturer. The engine manufacturer sends a service person to inspect the engine. The only information the service person has is of the engine. For example, the design parameters of the upper threshold of the radiator are not available to the service person. The service persons' inability to access this type of information leads the service person to believe the root cause of the problem lies with the engine. Therefore, the service person may search in vain for the cause of the engine failure and the stump grinder remains inoperable for a longer period than desired. The cause of the engine failure may go undetected and cause the engine dealer to pay for a warranty repair, when in fact the cause of the engine failure (i.e. the cooling system), was not covered by the engine warranty. The machine may be repaired and fail a second time for the same reason before the actual cause of the failure is determined. Therefore, lack of knowledge of the other components of the machine caused excess downtime, higher repair costs, and a disgruntled owner.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.